Winebits 439: Rose wine edition

Because, as we prepare for this week’s ninth annual Memorial Day and rose wine post, the rose boom means  news and recommendations are coming from the least likely places.

• To your health? If rose is booming, then it’s just a matter of time until someone touts its health benefits. Because we wouldn’t drink it otherwise, would we? This piece is silly enough to lift the blog’s wine and health news ban, and it includes a Left Coast dietitian with a book called “The MIND Diet” advocating roses. We should also drink rose, says the story, because they’re lower in calories than red wine, since they have less alcohol.

• Only expensive rose counts: Or so says this piece, crediting the rose boom to the Angelina Jolie-Brad Pitt rose, another rose that costs $100, and Andy Warhol’s Campbell soup can. And because it’s from New York, the infamous Hamptons’ rose shortage is mentioned. I wonder: Do people really believe this stuff? Isn’t it enough that rose became popular because it’s cheap and tasty?

• Making recommendations: The About.com sites – think of them as Wikipedia written by one person – do an OK job with wine, and this season’s rose picks aren’t bad – Charles & Charles, long a favorite here, and the South African Mulderbosch. My only objection? The piece includes more rose closer to $20 than to $10, including a $16 Chilean rose. To which I have just one one thing to say: Muga.